Betting plunge in A-League match prompts investigation

A-League, EPL, Champions League Football News - 7Sport

Following the release of the Australian Crime Commission’s devastating report into organized crime and drugs in sport, the A-League have been implicated in a major investigation into suspicious betting activity on a match.

Global authorities are in the midst of looking into an A-League game that saw a sudden, and large betting plunge, reports Fairfax Media.

The game in question reportedly involved bets of over $40 million, largely from Asia.

The exact fixture has not been revealed.

News of the controversy comes a day after the ACC’s report confirmed the darkest day in Australian sport, with all sporting codes mentioned in the damning document.

In yesterday’s press conference on the report, ACC CEO John Lawler confirmed that they will purse criminal charges for guilty parties.

He described the situation Australian sport was facing as "extraordinarily serious".

Earlier this week Europol stated that 680 matches were suspected of being fixed, and that there was a worldwide investigation underway.

The A-League match in question drew more gambling activity from a single bookmaker than an English Premier League match that weekend, reported Fairfax.

Football Federation Australia have denied any inquiry into match-fixing in the A-League.

"There is nothing specific in relation to football in relation to this report but that doesn’t mean we don’t join in the general concern about the issues that are raised in the report," FFA CEO David Gallop said yesterday.

"We must maintain vigilance in education, in making sure that players are aware of penalties that can be imposed and as you’d be aware we have recently engaged an overseas agency to assist us with surveillance of football matches.

"It’s simple to make the point but it’s a good one where things are difficult to detect.

"The level of deterrence must be high and that’s what we are dealing with here both in relation to the doping issue and match fixing.

"We are vigilant about it, we have internal and external resources in place and while we don’t specifically have evidence at this stage, we join in the general concern and we are all too happy to be supporting the government and the ACC."